18She was soaring through the sky – not on her own, of course. She was on the back of a magnificent bronze dragon – the biggest and most beautiful bronze on all of Pern. Shall we descend? asked the sweet voice of the dragon. Of course she could hear all dragons. That's why she was going to the Hatching.
She nodded at the dragon's question, and the bronze circled down onto the Hatching Sands. The eggs rocked and cracked as she felt the burning heat sear her heels. Perhaps, this time, she'd Impress…and suddenly the eggs were not eggs, but young people. The magnificent golden dragon was now a tall man, his mouth turned downwards; his eyes beady and grey.
The other children – some older, some younger – glanced at her fearfully. Was there something wrong with her? She looked down – no, she was wearing her purple Healer robe perfectly. Her hair felt in place. She wasn't going to attack them, so why did they stare so fearfully?
Her eyes widened as she realised their looks weren't fearful of her: they were fearful for her.
She spun around to the man with the thin lips and angry grey eyes. "You," he boomed, and the whole room seemed to shake, "have disgraced healers and all we stand for. You are hereby stripped of your colours and your rank." He leaned in, his grey eyes paralysing her. "Now go back to the Weyr where you belong."
She tried to move backwards but she couldn't – he had grabbed her arm and was sinking his fingernails in. "Stop! Stop!" she cried, unable to pull away. The man grinned and sunk his fingernails in deeper and blood poured out of the holes. She sank to the ground, her arm throbbing with pain. "Please, please…" she whispered as she collapsed onto the stony ground.
Tiva sat up in her cot with a jolt. After a moment she realised it was just a bad dream, and cursed to the eternal blackness of between all that sweet jam and bread she'd eaten just before bed. There were no scary men, no frightened students, no bronze dragons and no rocking eggs. However…
Tiva looked at her throbbing arm to see Plit clinging to it, her eyes whirling white. She dug her talons into Tiva's arm deeper, and crooned as if she were frightened. Tiva winced and tried to pry Plit off her arm. The fire-lizard had broken the skin in a few places, and it was starting to sting.
"Plit, you wherry of a fire-lizard," she said softly, coaxing the green off. "I had a bad dream. And for that, I'm sorry. Please – go back to sleep and stop trying to take my arm off."
Another dream? thought Tiva as an image of a bronze dragon popped into her head. Again. Again.
"Plit! I know, that was in my dream. Now please get off my arm!"
The fire-lizard moaned and leaned in closer, flashing images of a bronze dragon and his rider, sprawled in the darkness. Ista lake, glowing with the light of the moon. Kally, her eyes wide with fear.
Kally?
Tiva glanced over to Kally's cot, and found the bed-sheets pushed to the side. More of Kally's awful dreams…they must be affecting me, too…
Tiva stumbled out of bed, Plit still clutching Tiva's arm like it was her final meal. Tiva walked (gingerly, as the stone was quite cold despite the heat of the air) toward Kally's bed, having it in her mind to lift her friend off the floor and put her back on her cot where she would be more comfortable.
Tiva gasped. Kally's not here.
She quickly ceased the hysteria that was building up in her mind and thought the situation out rationally. Perhaps she went to find somewhere else to sleep. Maybe she's getting some herbs for sleeping issues…
Plit flashed an image of Kally, her eyes fearful as they looked upon the gigantic hulk of a bronze dragon.
Or perhaps Kally went for a walk.
"Kally…" she whispered. Plit vaulted off her master's arm and began to fly towards the lake, Tiva following close behind.
As M'nel wavered between conscious and unconscious, he heard snippets of conversation. How long he was there for, he didn't know. All of his energy was focussed on his bond with Danorith. He felt pain for his dragon as well as himself, doubling the thirst and hunger he suffered. When he could, he'd hear people speaking around him.
"Kally!" a voice called. Kally? Now who was that? One of the kind holders that had begged him to stay? He forgot his thoughts as soon as they happened.
He was pulled back into unconsciousness as it toppled over him like a large, black wave.
Pulled back again by a loud noise, he listened again to the environment around him, not opening his eyes. Was that a dragon trumpeting? Danorith?
It was not me, Danorith said. M'nel could hardly hear him and felt desperately for more of the dragon's presence in his mind. Danorith…
"You're the watchdragon?" screeched the girl.
"Why weren't you here?" said another, quieter voice. The one he had heard before, just after…just after…
He struggled to hear the reply of a man, clearly the object of both the females' anger.
"Reason…hurt…what…night…dragon…"
He groaned and the arguing stopped. An arm grabbed his shoulder and pulled the right half of his body into a standing position, the other half still limp.
"Kally," said the strong female voice beside him. "We need food and water from the kitchens. You may have to make more trips, because we need to care to the bronze, too."
Bronze…Danorith…they mean you?
All M'nel heard in reply was the telepathic equivalent of a sigh.
The harsh tone of the male voice cut in again, this time closer. "Where are you taking him?"
"That's none of your business," hissed the girl who was attempting to hold him up. "Unless you going to help me?" The silence hung over everything, thick and heavy, only broken by the girl's bitter laugh. "Otherwise, we could go to Polisa's and D'teb's Weyr and explain exactly where you were when you were supposed to be on watch."
M'nel heard a sigh and felt his left side being lifted by someone (presumably, the man) as he slipped back into unconsciousness.
Kally awoke, the warm sun relaxing her tense muscles. She shivered in spite of the morning heat. It was cold for Ista, being Autumn, considering how Kally had only just become accustomed to Summer when it had abruptly ended. She shivered again as she pulled herself off the stone floor.
The angle of the sun seemed wrong somehow – she was lying on the floor, yet the sun shone directly on her face. What…?
Suddenly the events of last night rushed back to her again. M'nel…she thought, and looked over to near the back of the cave. A large and dull bronze dragon lay curled up in the very corner of the makeshift weyr – the man she recognised from last night was lying near his dragon, a look of pain etched on his face.
Kally lay back on the slowly warming rock and tried to recall the events of last night clearly and in the right order. Her mind was still buzzing from the confusion of it all…
It had started with a dream – that's right! A frightening dream. About M'nel and Danorith…flying…crashing…dying…
She'd gone for a walk. Plit! That fanciful green fire-lizard was with her too. The one that belonged to Tiva. Tiva…
Kally glanced to the other side of the weyr and found her friend, slumped up against the rock, her head drooped in sleep. Plit was on her lap, tail wrapped around one of Tiva's wrists.
So…Kally had gone for a walk and found M'nel. Tiva…how did Tiva get there? She racked her brain. Had she followed Kally out?
No, she would've called out to her.
Did Plit warn Tiva? Perhaps. If so, she didn't give Plit enough credit. Tiva basically saved her life last night.
She hadn't known what to do – that much she remembered. M'nel was from the sixth pass. He couldn't know of this world, and this world couldn't know about him, for the information he could share in his time about the tenth pass would impact severely on his future.
Our time. Imagine if that happened! She'd been told the tale of Lessa's Ride more than she could count. Every dragonrider knew that going between times had to be done very cautiously, and any meddling around in another time could cause dire consequences for another. That much she knew.
Which is why, she recalled, it took quick-thinking Tiva so long to realise that. The reason why it took me so long to explain.
And if she hadn't? Tiva would have woken the healers, the whole Weyr would have known about M'nel, and he would have gone back to his time when he was well enough…told them tales about the tenth pass…and the world would have been changed forever.
How could you know that? She argued with herself. They certainly could have done more for him than you three have done. A young brownrider, an inexperienced healer and a weyr-bred failure? What did you expect to achieve?
It was a risk I couldn't take. She convinced herself that the less people who were involved, the better. Even if that meant dealing with the situation herself. Not that she would have done anything if Tiva hadn't arrived, if that watchrider who had been shirking his duties hadn't returned…
The caves were her idea, though. Outside of the Weyrbowl, there were a small collection of caves – the smallest ones too small for even a child to enter, the largest big enough to accommodate a queen dragon. A few Turns back some dragonriders had attempted to live there. Shortly after, they were found to be too far away from the goings-on of the Weyr, and were abandoned. The small group of caves, about ten or fifteen in all, had been empty ever since. It was the perfect place to store a recovering bronze and his rider. It seemed to take forever to move the man to a suitable cave, and to get him to coax his bronze there too.
Tiva, just before she had collapsed from exhaustion herself, had deduced they were both suffering from dehydration and were hungry – and all they needed was rest. Hopefully they'll be back in the sixth pass before the end of today. Her mental tone was harsh, but Kally knew that it was for the best.
Her head snapped to the corner of the small weyr as the man stirred.
M'nel was sore almost everywhere. The places where he wasn't sore, his dragon was sore, and that added up to a whole sharding lot of pain. He reached out for the awareness of his dragon – Danorith was oblivious and deep in sleep. Good, M'nel thought, as he opened his eyes.
He pulled himself up slightly, wincing as he did, and propped himself up (gently) against his dragon's dull hide. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes against the pain, and when he opened them a cup of klah was thrust into his face. He pushed his mouth against it, and slightly recoiled at the cold beverage. Then, as if the small sip had reawakened his thirst, he gulped the rest down.
"Thank-you," he croaked, his scratchy voice unfamiliar to him. His vision became less blurry and he saw the girl who had given him the drink.
She had a kind face framed by wavy dark brown hair. Her face was dirty and her hair was decorated with leaves and twigs – probably gained from last night. She wasn't a beauty, but her slightly wide face and separated features gave her a caring look that let M'nel know that he was in safe hands. She was in her mid-twenties, perhaps. Was she the kind-voiced girl who had first found him?
"I'm sorry it's so cold," she said quietly. She grinned uncertainly, whispering, "I didn't know when you'd wake up." When he didn't respond, she looked away, her cheeks flushing slightly. "I'm very pleased to meet you, M'nel." She cleared her throat. "I'll wake Tiva…"
Tiva. The loud, commanding girl? The one that had helped to carry his limp body to the infirmary? The only other person in the cave must be her.
"Don't wake her."
The girl turned back around. "You need help - "
"And she needs to sleep," he cut her off. "Don't worry, I'll be fine for the next few minutes." He put on a brave smile.
"I remember," he said, taking a moment to swallow, the saliva sliding down his raw throat painfully, "you were the one who found me…thank you. What's your name?"
"Kally," she whispered, her face glowing in the early morning light. "And you're quite welcome."
"So where did you find it?" B'tij asked the other dragonrider.
"A place," he replied vaguely in a voice that chilled B'tij to the bone.
"You say there are others?"
The dragonrider grinned darkly. "There are numerous riders of Pern who share my views." He pushed his hair back off his gleaming grey eyes. "Do you wish to be one of them?"
"I…I'd have to…"
The other dragonrider frowned and narrowed his eyes. "This is a commitment to be held to the end, greenrider. Accept only if you're certain."
B'tij considered, then decided, a confident expression on his face. "Of course I will follow you."
"Just be there on time and don't speak to others of this meeting," his tone was dismissive but his eyes burned with fury. B'tij called on all of his self-restraint to keep from bolting.
"I understand," he said, and slowly retreated from the room.
The other dragonrider sat down in his chair, hearing the undesirable sound of wood scraping on stone. Half of the riders that wished to participate were not leadership material. He chuckled. But they will be…dismissed…when the plan proves successful.
He leaned back, revelling darkly at the thought of his entire plan, provided by the ancient hide that told secrets kept for hundreds of Turns. First it had failed. But this time…
They won't even see it coming.
A/N: I'm sorry for such a long time between updates! I found this chapter particularly difficult to write, and it changes perspective a lot for effect. Is it too boring? I needed to do this to create padding in the story, but I promise the next one will be far more exciting! I'd love you to review and tell me what you think! Enjoy!